THANK YOU to Frank and all of you who support this Virtual Tasting. I appreciate that for all of us this has been a difficult year and we aren’t out of the woods yet which makes it all the more special that this group of wonderful people continue to do these kinds of events to support those who really need our help.
For most of us our home is the safest and most comfortable place we can be, surrounded by those who are supposed to love us the most. Yet for many of our clients during this Covid-19 pandemic this is not the case. They are isolated and living in fear with their abusive partners and believe there is no way out of their nightmare situation. Your ongoing support enables us to offer them hope in the form of such things as emergency shelter, a 24 hour crisis hotline and vital support services which are more important than ever during these difficult times.
With love, appreciation and warm wishes to you all for a safe and happy holiday season.
2012 Thomas Fogarty Pinot Noir Rapley Trail Vineyard - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains (11/23/2020)
Soy, floral, earth, burnt toast, underbrush and dust. The exact opposite of an overripe California Pinot. Elegant and good acidity. Medium finish. (92 points)
1991 Groffier Clos de Beze: Really strong iron and earth notes on the nose, followed by hints of red fruit, didn’t show much initially on the palate and took a while to unfurl. The wine remained a bit rustic even through a decant and a 3 hour dinner; still a nice wine, but I don’t think there’s much in the way of upside remaining.
Goddammit Frank, it was 33 degrees here yesterday, got to 50 today, but with monsoon rains. This is Chateauneuf weather, at least Mediterranean reds, or I could even go with Cab, or, god help me, Merlot. But nooooo, it’s got to be Pinot Noir. And the nearest one to hand happens to be one I imported. Oh well, here goes:
2009 Roy Auxey-Duresses - Pale pure red color to the rim, nothing orange or brown. Aromas are mostly red fruit, cherry and raspberry, with a definite note of sous-bois. The palate is light in body, but with good intensity and nice solidity in the mid-palate through the finish. Tannins resolved, acid still bright. Flavors have a note of black fruit not there in the aromas. Drink now or over the next year or two. No rating.
Brig Campbell had a good idea. I’ll cough up $25 per this year. And I have two lined up for Birdday.
2016 Walter Scott Cuvee Ruth: this had a very reductive nose on opening, and checking back in an hour later, hadn’t budged a bit. Into the decanter it goes. About two hours later, the reductive funk blows off leaving a lovely nose of strawberries, and a hint of clove spice. This is somehow both juicy and restrained on the palate, with wild strawberries and other red fruits swirling around in there along with a pie crust note. This is still young and has more than a bit of grip. Tasty now and certainly room to develop. If you pop one now, give it plenty of air and have it with food.
We rarely drink Pinot, but supporting Frank and Laura’s House is a great cause. So here goes.
2016 Abbaye de Santenay Michel Clair Santenay 1er Cru Comme.
My wife went to a wine tasting last fall and liked this wine, and bought a bottle. We gave it around an hour of air, and there were some nice red fruits on the palate, and a little bit of earth and spice. Medium-bodied, with a little more acidity than I expected. Really nice clean finish, with a little bit of floral flavors to go along with spice and strawberry. Definitely consumed too young, as the wine put on some weight with more time and air. This went really well with coq-au-vin from the slow cooker, and the wine paired nicely with the mushrooms and the leeks from the meal.
Thank you all very much for supporting the thread today…more and more posts, which is driving up the total donation. I even got a PM earlier from another Berserker that he was making a side donation to Laura’s House. Thank you, sir.
I also want to recognize Margaret, who posted earlier today about how your efforts in a thread like this make a difference for the work they do. Yes, this thread is about sharing notes, but please don’t lose sight that the work you are doing here is DIRECTLY helping families who are fleeing violence, and in some cases, would be dead if they stayed with their abuser. What you do here is saving others.
As the leader here, I decided to just keep going tonight and open another bottle and fight on with all of you. I decided to do Kutch again.
I looked at all my Kutch wines and decided to settle on the 2014 Sonoma Coast, my final bottle too. I looked at my previous notes on the bottle back to 2015, and some of the other CT notes, and this seemed to be the best choice. The power of Cellartracker wins again.
2014 Kutch Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast- USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast (11/23/2020)
Been a couple years since I have opened one of these. This is my last bottle of 14 SC, and seemed like a good fit to continue contributing to our Tasting Note Challenge over on Wine Berserkers to raise money for Laura’s House. I opened this about 30 mins ago and I am drinking the first glass of this at room temp of 67f. 12.9% ABV. This is definitely plusher in tone, a hard cherry candy note to the red and black fruit. And looking back at my very first TN for this wine, I made a mention of ‘syrup’. This was my impression tonight before I realized my 2015 TN comment, and it remains true 5 years later, too. While the texture is not thick nor heavy, the sweetness borders on a suggestion of jammy, concentrated fruit quality. There is tangy, plummy acidity here, which adds an effective counter for the fruit…open an hour, this is just a fruit-centric vintage for this bottling, one that affirms my comment in my 2018 TN that this was a more near-term drinker. So, blah blah blah, what does it all mean? It means that the 2014 SC is ready to go, and you should expect a more up-front fruit driven mouthful of wine.
Picked a few of these up from Bottle Barn when they were selling off the Keefer Cellar following the passing of a family member. They’ve been hit and miss.
2004 Flowers Pinot Noir Keefer Ranch- USA, California, Sonoma County, Green Valley of Russian River Valley (11/23/2020)
Pristine cork, poured a brownish red, smelled of stewed prunes, tasted flat and acidic. NR (flawed)
2017 St. Innocent Pinot Noir Villages Cuvée- USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley (11/23/2020)
Fresh, electric, racy, with a little funk, bight acidity, crunchy fruit, lotta wood on the finish. Hell, it was better than then the Pinot Brunâtre I poured out of the bottle of Flowers. Gets a mulligan.
2010 Ceritas Annabelle Sonoma Coast pinot - On the nose, tart cranberries with a hint of pine needle. On the palate, mix of raspberries/cranberries with a nice minerality to it. Light on the palate, and still a bit tart/acidic, and then some interesting darker “bass” notes and a hint of nice baking spices come out as the wine goes down. Quite yummy!
Classic varietal scents on the nose, restrained, underscored by forest floor. Carmine color, with ever so slightly bricking on the rim. Some cherry and strawberry on the palate, starting to give way to tertiary flavors. Medium acidity, and subtle tannins, almost fully resolved. Great balance, in a beautiful spot right now. Tremendous value.
My wife was convinced this was burgundy. Pale ruby color, very “burgundian”, restrained strawberry rhubarb beautiful balance, not quite tertiary but getting there. Absolutely delicious. Glad I have one more.
High toned, crunchy red fruits, lighter on the palate than the 15-16 but with generous fruit and a long finish.
2015 Mongeard Mugneret VR 1er Orveaux
Classic Vosne, a lick of oak but not overly much, nice spice. I don’t find this rustic; good power and a long finish. Along with Jerome chezeaux suchots and charmes, this is as close as you’ll get to value in 1er VR.
Great initiative Frank and co, just saw this so unfortunately didn’t get any pictures of myself!
2018 Domaine Chanterêves Volnay Les Lurets- France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Volnay (24/11/2020)
Very pretty nose of rose petals, slightly lacking on the palate which was a little thin without structure. With air the hotter vintage began to show with some sweetness.
2003 Nicolas Potel Beaune 1er Cru Grèves- France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Beaune 1er Cru (23/11/2020)
Second time having this wine and similar impressions to before. Immediately called CdB as it was dense and blocky. Some earth and sous bois, rather ungainly wine.
2010 Dry River Pinot Noir- New Zealand, North Island, Wairarapa, Martinborough (23/11/2020)
This was way too plummy and dark-fruited for my liking, which was a shame as I like their whites a lot. Would probably have called Syrah if it wasn’t a Pinot night.
2014 Bouchard Père et Fils Volnay 1er Cru Caillerets Ancienne Cuvée Carnot- France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Volnay 1er Cru (23/11/2020)
One of Bouchard’s signature reds but the wood predominates here with a heavy dose of vanilla and cream. Slightly lacking in finesse, dense and earthy black fruits.
2015 Domaine Serene Pinot Noir Jerusalem Hill- USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Eola - Amity Hills (23/11/2020)
A lovely classic nose and palate of red fruits on opening. With the elegance, I thought this was a CdN village so was pleasantly surprised this was a new world wine. But with air it became less pleasant, turned jammy with a sickly cola and chocolate note that was rather monolithic. If only it remained as it was when first popped.
2015 Lucien Crochet Sancerre Rouge La Croix du Roy- France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Sancerre Rouge (22/11/2020)
Wow this could easily pass for a serious Burgundy. Very pretty floral nose that only a Pinot could have, put on weight with time in the glass. Some spice that reminded me of Vosne, ample red fruits. Only shortcoming was the slightly green finish and a lack of complexity but an unbelievable value.
2019 Lucien Crochet Sancerre Rose
Medium pink/orange color. Aromas of ripe peach, strawberry, cherry, and some melon. Palate shows strawberry and peach with enough acid at the finish to keep it refreshing. One to drink with the vintage.
2007 Alesia Pinot Noir Green Valley of Russian River Valley
Medium-dark red color with light to medium transparency. Aromas of strawberry, cherry, and some leafy/tea notes. Some dried leaves on the palate with raspberry, plum, cinnamon, and sassafras that carry into a medium finish. Pleasantly evolved, to my tastes. No hurry, but time to drink.
Postscript on the Alesia: Leftovers on day two are pretty dull with only structure remaining. Confirms my opinion on drinking these at will over the next few years.
Sister winery of Evesham Wood. Cancilla Vineyard is north of Dundee Hills by Gaston. Mixed clone planting. I think it is sedimentary soil. Wine sees 10% new oak.
PnP. Very deep red color, almost purple. Very tight on both the palate and nose. This clearly needed some air. Over time a medley of berries emerged, especially wild blackberry, raspberry, and button berry. With more air, lot of tobacco and cedar notes. Very firm on the palate but also quite silky. Quite enjoyable and very solid QPR at around $30. Throughout, this wine still seemed very primary as if it had been recently bottled. Over four hours this really unfolded nicely. Opened too soon. Lots of upside.
I just realized that I have opened three 2016 Oregon PN in a row. I don’t have many older ones available. I never will at the rate I am going.
I don’t know how many mug shots Frank wants. I asked my wife to join in on this one. As a HS teacher, she has some students whom she worries about being stuck in questionable home situations. Thanks Frank for setting this up.
2011 Thomas Pinot Noir Dundee Hills
This is my second time trying this wine, having opened a bottle in 2016. It is absolutely delicious now, one of my favorite domestic pinot noirs this year. Pale red. It’s still quite primary. Crisply red fruited, with raspberry, strawberry and cherry, and a distinctive violet floral note. Medium bodied.
2001 Arcadian Pisoni Pinot Noir - No decant. Served at cellar temp. Wow, if anything this bottle is even more primary than the bottle I opened last year. Dark purple color, spicy, woody, dark cherry fruited nose. Lovely texture, black cherry, iron and Asian spices on the palate, with a formidable tannic backbone. This wine needs a significant decant or many more years in the bottle to show secondary notes.
Like many of Marcus’ Pinots, this is very lightly colored in the glass. Red fruits and spice on the nose. Savory, with good acidity on the palate. I likee
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